June 2026 – AHI x ZLTO SPARC Visit

This involved Irish and Uk Sheep Farmers and Vets, kindly facilitated by ZLTO. ZLTO (Zuidelijke Land- en Tuinbouworganisatie) is a major Dutch agricultural and horticultural organization representing over 15,000 farmers and growers in the southern Netherlands. They provide business advice, champion sustainable farming, and facilitate research projects.

On our first day we toured the ZLTO building and were given insight into Parasitic Control and Legislation in a Dutch context. Speakers from University of Utrecht and Wageningen University & Research Institute spoke of their current ongoing research in sustainable parasite control. Here we also met and heard from the two Dutch Farm Ambassadors, Marieke de Louw a vet with her own Zwartble flock and Rianne van Helden a vet with her own sole Sheep focused practice and her own Valais Blacknose Sheep.

Our first farm visit was to a 70 ewe Rouge de l’Ouest flock. Laurens Koenen has a keen interest in data analysis and tracks all activity of his flock on farm software. He utilises consistent weighing of his lambs to track performance and as an indicator for parasitic infections. The farm is extensively grazed with a rotation included of mixed grazing post Dairy cattle to help reduce worm burden.

On day two we ventured to a demo Agroforestry holding. The farm is divided into different demo areas where different techniques are on display, primarily focused on Silvopasture farming. This is a combination of productive grassland and cattle with trees or shrubs. 6 neighbouring farms have implemented different versions of this, for example a Dairy farm has implemented Willows and Chestnut trees along his boundaries as they provide shade and are edible for the cattle. A sheep farmer has implemented 1.5 metre strips amongst his field with edible plants for sheep but also fruit trees such as apple and pears for their own consumption. Vet Marieke De Louw gave a presentation on medicinal use of plant – how they are useful for parasite control and other illnesses.

Finally, we travelled to a Sheep and Belgian Blue Veal farm. The Van Sonsbeek family run 300 Texel Crossbred ewes. They primarily focus on breeding high worm resistant rams by utilising IGA Saliva testing and Dutch Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs). They monitor the flock with consistent Faecal Egg Count testing. Cross species grazing factors into their sustainable parasite control also.